Violence produces an atmosphere that is necessary for creating fear, harm, and demise. These stylistic elements also allow the writer to explore the American dream and nightmare within (Hogle 190-200).Īn important characteristic in Gothic Literature is violence. By giving the house human characteristics such as being “hating” and “arrogant” Jackson enables the reader to delve deeper into the story of the House and what it truly represents (Jackson 24). In The Haunting of Hill House, Jackson utilizes personification in order to create a nerve-racking atmosphere. The use of these devices enables the author to create a blood-curdling atmosphere. Another device American Gothic writers employ is contrasting two ideas such as god and the devil or good and bad. However, American Gothic utilizes rhetorical devices such as imagery, personification, and symbolism. The function of confusing the reader is to make what happens next all the more surprising.
People fear what they cannot explain or understand, therefore making this an exceptional way to utilize strange events and clearly separating it from other types of Gothic.īritish Gothic uses certain techniques in order to confuse the reader such as multiple plots and narrators. Jackson uses the “unknown” antagonist to manifest into a “night cry of a child” in order to strike panic in the reader’s mind because “when we become involved in a supernatural event, we're scared out of our wits just because it's unknown.” (Jackson 120). In the novel The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson utilizes mystery and the power of stealth in the antagonist in order to strike a particular kind of uneasiness. The American Gothic focuses on the psychological terror that is inflicted when the reader knows there is a threat, but the threat is undetectable and slowly progresses into a manifestation. Contrary, American Gothic emphasizes mystery and skepticism through strange events such as doors being shut, footsteps, and the sound of wind. This can be seen in Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley who uses a monster with incredible strength and a sense of revenge in order to inflict terror on the reader’s mind. However, they differ significantly when it comes to the application of this characteristic.īritish Gothic focuses on the aspect of terror through the usage of monsters, zombies, and vampires. Strange events are a characteristic that is shared between British and American Gothic. In order to separate itself from other Gothics, American Gothic writers had to adjust the Gothic literary characteristics to their own cultural features and conceptions of horror.Īmerican Gothic writers tend to favor the psychological appeal because it enables each individual to undergo a unique feeling this was achieved through superstition and the utilization of strange events. However, the genre came to a new light and Americans began to use this literary trend in order to convey the nightmare that's hidden deep within the American Dream. Gothic was based on history, something America was in lack of. This genre was paradoxical to the new country based on liberty and the pursuit of happiness.Ĭonsequently, the people of America discarded the gothic genre because the novels seemed unreliable. Gothic literature came to America in the late eighteenth century.
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